Hafiz Saeed: Pakistan detains 26/11 Mumbai attacks suspect

Pakistani officials have ordered the detention of a 
firebrand cleric linked to the 2008 Mumbai terror
 attacks which killed 166 people.

Hafiz Saeed - who led the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba 
(LeT) militant group and has a $10m (£5.8m) US bounty
 on his head - is under house arrest in Lahore.

He has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai 
attacks.

But Delhi and Washington both believe he masterminded
 the shooting and bombing massacre.

A spokesman for Mr Saeed claimed the Pakistani 
government had been pressured by the US to act
 against him.

Mr Saeed heads Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a Pakistani 
charity group which India and the US say is a front 
for the LeT. It is listed as a terror outfit by the United 
Nations, and was put on a Pakistani terror watch list
 in 2015.

Four JuD members have also been placed in 
"preventative detention", according to an order by 
the interior ministry.


Tensions over Mumbai massacre

The Islamist leader's free movement in Pakistan has
 been a source of tension between Islamabad and
 Delhi for years, but it is unclear why the authorities 
decided to move against him now.

He was put under house arrest in 2008 after the 
bloodshed in Mumbai, but released about six months
 later. Pakistan maintained there was not enough 
evidence to put him on trial or hand him over to India.

The Mumbai carnage played out on live television as commandos battled the heavily armed attackers, who
 arrived by sea on the evening of 26 November, 2008.

The 10 gunmen killed commuters, tourists, and some
 of India's wealthy elite in a rampage that included attacks
 on two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, and a train station.

It took the authorities three days to regain full control
 of the city.

Delhi believes there is evidence that "official agencies"
 in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack - a charge Islamabad denie


'US tension'

Despite the bounty against him, Mr Saeed has led a 
high-profile public life in Pakistan, regularly delivering 
fierce anti-India speeches.

In a 2014 interview with the Press, Mr Saeed said the
 US was only targeting his organisation to win India's
 help in Afghanistan.

News of the cleric's detention surfaced hours after
 Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar hinted at an 
imminent crackdown.

He told reporters in Islamabad that Pakistan is 
"under obligation to take some action" as JuD is 
blacklisted internationally and has been under 
observation for years.

"The situation will be clear on this by tomorrow," 
he said on Monday.

A senior Pakistani defence ministry official told media
 that Islamabad had not heard anything from 
President Trump's administration, but had been 
feeling US pressure over the terror suspect.

"Trump is taking hard decisions against Muslim 
countries, there is open talk of actions against 
Pakistan also. So yes, this was a consideration,"
 said the official.